Jordan Johnson

Mrs. Sintich
Advanced Placement Biology
November 7, 2015
Human Impact and Natural Disasters

When one scrolls through the news headlines, it becomes blatantly obvious that our
environment is being significantly impacted by the actions of humans. One of the most dramatic
example is that of the Adelie and Chinstrap penguins. More specifically, the populations of both
the Adelie and Chinstrap penguins are declining in population due to their seemingly vanishing
food source krill. According to most reports, the disappearance of krill in some areas is due to the
melting icebergs as a result of global warming. (Global warming is a result of a build up of green
house gases that trap in heat from the sun.) Overall, the populations of the Adelie and Chinstrap
penguins are harmed by the effects of humans that have built up over the decades. Another
detrimental effect that humans have on the environment Is when they participate in slash-andburn agriculture. More specifically slash and burn agriculture is a technique where farmers burn
areas in order to replenish nutrients. This technique is detrimental to the environment, because it
takes away resources from from its inhabitants as well as ruins their habitat. In the same
regarded, logging also wipes out entire environments and takes years to regrow.
In addition to human impact, natural disasters can also effect the environment and its
inhabitants. For example, continental drift can gradually cause speciation. More specifically,

when the continent drift occurs new environments are created therefore creating new niches that
favor certain phenotypes. (New species can develop in order to fell new niches.) In addition,
natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, and fires can have an impact
on the environment. When these detrimental events occur habitats are lost and therefore there is a
decrease in the population of multiple species. Finally, the meteor that struck the Earth during the
time of the dinosaurs also had an extremely significant impact on the environment, because it
wiped out multiple species, therefore drastically changing the environment.
Overall, there are several factors that affect species distribution and abundance. These
factors include species-specific and environment castastropes, geological events, sudden influx/
depletion of abiotic resources, and increased human activities. As previously discussed, human
activity can have a drastic impact on the environment as well as the organisms that inhabitant it.
Furthermore geological events, such continental drift, also shift the environment as well as
multiple populations. Overall, human impact and natural disasters have a significant influence on
the Earth's habitats.